Clean Transcript

Beware

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• The message is "Beware," Matthew 16. Let's begin reading there with verse 5. Matthew 16, verse 5: "And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?"

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• "Do you not yet understand, neither remember, the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? Neither the seven loaves and the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up? How is it then that you do not understand, that I speak it not to you concerning bread, that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees?" Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now we understand the word "beware."

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• It means to be cautious, wary, on our toes, observant, ready to defend ourselves if necessary. We see "beware" signs all of the time: "Beware of the dog," "Beware of falling rocks," "Beware of the bears," "Beware of snakes," "Beware of vacant buildings," and a host of other "beware" signs. In fact, Alice has a sign that she keeps on her little buggy, and it says, "Beware of the crazy chicken lady." She does love her chickens, and she can be dangerous, that's for sure. But the one that I like best is a sign that said, "Beware the dog," then under it said, "Forget the dog, beware the owner." So I like that one as well. But we have to remember that each "beware" sign in reality is a sign of warning.

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• Likewise, when we get in the scripture to all of the "beware" statements, they are indeed warnings, and I might add, they are divine warnings as well. So we're going to be looking at different texts today, and each time we're going to be observing the word "beware." But there are three main Greek words from which these words are translated, and I want to give them to you. The first word is the word "prosecho," and it is used to mean literally "beware," to give heed, to give attention to, and to apply oneself in carefulness. There's a second Greek word, which is very common, and it is the word "blepo," which means literally "I see" (the verb), but it means to see, to behold, to take heed, to beware, to discern, to observe, and to consider and discover. Then there's a third Greek word, and that word is "phulasso," and it means to listen carefully, to take heed, beware, observe, to be on guard, and to be ready to save oneself lest you suffer violence.

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• So these three words together are words usually of danger, and sometimes they are words of extreme danger. Now before I get to our text, I want to take you very quickly through several passages and show you how this word or these three words are used over and over in the scripture. So if you look in Matthew chapter 7 (holding chapter 16, we're coming back there), Matthew chapter 7, and look if you would please at verse 15. Matthew 7 and verse 15, where our Lord said in this particular passage, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." So here's a false prophet. Here's someone who's teaching things other than the Word of God, but he's coming in sheep's clothing, but he is indeed a ravening wolf, seeking to deceive and seeking to destroy as well. So our Lord tells us "beware." Obviously, clearly it is a word of warning and a word of danger. Then if you look in Matthew chapter 10, verses 17 and 18, again,

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• our Lord says it like this: "But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles." And certainly you have to beware. Amen, that is a fact, because many are indeed traitors, many are informers. It's kind of like that January 6th thing. Most of the people who were encouraging violence and encouraging to take you into the White House, they were all government agents. And so, you know, you have to beware of men. That's exactly what our Lord is saying.

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• Now, let me give you a quote from a short verse, and that's Philippians chapter 3 and verse 2. Because in that passage, the Word of God says, "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision." So the word "beware" is used three times there. When he says "beware of dogs," obviously that is not the four-legged kind but the two-legged kind, and there are individuals in the scripture that God does indeed refer to as dogs, and he tells us beware of those. "Beware of evil workers," that is those who only perpetrate evil, but they plan evil, they delight in evil. And then when he says "beware of the concision," it's literally "beware of the circumcision," which would be beware of the Jews. So, another one I want you to look at is Colossians chapter 2 and verse 8. It also is a "beware" verse. In fact, I would imagine that someone could preach probably for a year or so just on the "beware" verses in the scripture. But in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 8, the Word of God says it like this: "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

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• Now, you may not understand the importance of the word "philosophy," but I want to spell it out for you. In fact, the Greek word is basically "philosophia." That is philosophy. That is where we get our English word "philosophy." It's made up of two Greek words: "philos" and "sophia." "Philos" is the Greek word which means "love," and "sophia" is the Greek word for "wisdom." So the word "philosopher" just simply means a lover of wisdom. And of course, God is indeed the chief philosopher, because He is indeed wisdom incarnate, that is for sure. But the warning in Colossians 2 and verse 8 is a warning between the philosophy of the world and the philosophy of the Word of God. In other words, one is humanistic and the other happens

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• to be biblical. Now let me use another term. You say, "But I'm not a philosopher. I don't follow Socrates. I don't follow Aristotle, Plato, Kant." Well, you may not use the word "philosophy," but you have a philosophy. You have a worldview. You have a view in which you see things. You have a philosophy in which you understand things. And so here's the point of Colossians 2 and verse 8: If your philosophy, if your worldview is not biblical, if it is not scriptural, then you are a follower of the tradition of men, of the vain deceits and the rudiments of the world. It's just that simple.

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• So you either have two choices. You may see the world and everything in it through the spectacles of scripture, or through the spectacles of human eyes or humanism. So your philosophy, your worldview, is how you view things, how you interpret reality. Now there's one more I want to show you, and that's found in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 17. Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 17. Look what he says: 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 17, "You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness." Now look what he said there. He said you better beware, lest you being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. Sometimes it's easy to be led away. Sometimes it's very easy to be led astray. I remember when I first learned this as a young boy.

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• I've always said I'm so thankful that I was raised on a farm. You learn so many lessons. But I've always enjoyed eating quail. Ha ha, don't eat them very often, but I do like quail. Don't care one thing for dove, but I do like quail. And I remember as a boy, I was out at the edge of the field and I saw this quail, and she had a look like a broken wing. She was fluttering that wing.

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• And so I walked up to pick her up, and just as I got close to her, she ran off another five or ten yards and just fluttered. And while I walked over to get her, she ran off again. And finally, after she led me about 50 yards, she just took off. I'd just gotten too close to her nest. She was just leading me away. She was deceiving me, pretending like she was hurt when in reality she was not hurt. And now I couldn't get back behind her nest; I wouldn't have bothered it anyhow. But I'm just simply saying she was leading me away. And this is exactly what God is saying. So many people fall from their own steadfastness. They fall from their faithfulness because they get led away, sometimes by their own desires, sometimes by entertainment. It's insane the way we prioritize our lives. When you stop and think about that, we hardly ever put the Lord and His Word first. So let me

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• just put it to you very plainly based upon Colossians chapter 2 and verse 8 and 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 17: If you do not live your life by biblical principles, you are asking for destruction. You're asking for chaos and confusion in your life. So our Lord now is giving us a multitude of warnings in the Bible, and unhappily, I believe that most Christians are like little children. And when I say that, all of us who've had little children, when it comes around a fire, when it comes around a hot stove eye, we tell them, "Don't touch that. Don't touch that, don't you touch that, that'll burn you." We tell those children that 10 or 15, 20 times, inevitably they have to touch it.

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• And then they're gonna find out, "I should have listened to the warning." But I'm afraid that's the way we are when it comes to the Word of God. We just simply do not listen when our Lord says that we are to beware. Now the passages that I'm going to be dealing with today, or just telling you about them rather, are repeated several times in the Bible. They're found in Matthew chapter 16, they're found in Mark chapter 8, they're found in Luke chapter 20, and also in Luke chapter 12. So God is repeating this thing over and over. So if I were to ask you, how many times did God have to say something to make it true and to make it important?

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• The answer is only one time. But if He repeats something over and over, we should pay attention. So I want you to go back in your Bible to Matthew chapter 16, to the text that we read, because in this passage our Lord is telling us to beware of hypocrisy and false doctrine. So in this text we see how easily we do not really understand the truth that our Lord is teaching. The disciples did not understand. Years ago, I saw a cartoon and I've never forgotten it, but it really illustrates the point of Matthew chapter 16 in the text that we just read. There were two men in long robes and they were carrying signs that said, "The end is near." In the next little picture, you could hear screeching like the screeching of brakes. And then you would hear a splash that went on two or three times, you know, just that sound and then the splash. Finally, one of the men looked at the other and said, "Perhaps we should change our signs to read 'The bridge's out.'"

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• Well, "The end is near," most folks are just going to ignore that. But the bridge was out and the end was near, but they just simply did not understand. So I want you to look in Matthew chapter 16 in verse 6. Our Lord said, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." Now the disciples just automatically thought of bread. Look in verse 5: "And when the disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread." Well, we're here and, you know, we didn't bring anything to eat. And our Lord warns them. Now look in verse 7: "And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread." Now here's the truth: our Lord not only had to correct their thinking, He had to direct their thinking. He said, "No. No, you're thinking wrong. You need to think in another direction." He reminded them that He was quite capable of giving them bread. For instance, look if you would beginning in verse 8: "Which when Jesus perceived" (that is, He perceived how they were thinking), He said unto them,

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• "O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, neither remember, the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, how many baskets you took up?" When our Lord fed the five thousand, He took what? Five loaves and two fishes. And the five thousand were just five thousand men, not counting the women and the children. And I think it was what, twelve baskets they took up afterward? And then when He fed the four thousand, I think it was seven baskets they took up. So our Lord is saying, "Look, I'm not concerned about bread. I'm quite capable of making bread and extending it and making it go as far as I want it to go. It's just that simple." But how plain the truth is when God opens our eyes. So our Lord asked them, when they're thinking, "Well, we just forgot to take bread,"

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• our Lord said, "What's wrong with you? How is it you do not understand? How is it you do not perceive? What is going on in your minds?"

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• Now I want to show you something. Mark, in his passage, makes this even a sterner rebuke from our Lord. So if you look very quickly, holding Matthew 16, turn to Mark chapter 8 if you would please, and look at beginning there with verse 17. Mark chapter 8 and verse 17, and look at the words that our Lord uses to His disciples. Verse 16: "And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we've taken no bread." And when Jesus knew it, He said unto them, "Why reason ye because you have no bread?" Or, "What's wrong with your reasoning?" Now look: "Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? Have ye your hearts yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? And do ye not remember,

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• when I break the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up?" And they said unto Him, "Twelve." "And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up?" And they said, "Seven." And He said, "How is it that ye do not understand?" Isn't it amazing? I mean, you and I can be oblivious to a truth, and all of a sudden God opens our eyes and gives us understanding, and everything is so clear and so simple and so plain. And then we think, "How in the world were we so ignorant and so stupid and

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• so blind as to not see this beforehand?" Now the warning in Matthew chapter 16 is not just against hypocrisy (it is that, which I'll show you), but it's also against false teaching and false doctrine. So let me ask you this: Do you pay attention to what you hear? Do you judge what you hear based upon the Word of God? And do you display the attitude of the Bereans?

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• You remember, Paul preached in Thessalonica, and they didn't like what he said, and they could care less. But when he got to Berea and began preaching, he said in Acts 17 verse 11, "But these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, and searched the scriptures daily, as to whether or not these things were so." There's a vast difference between eisegesis and exegesis. Eisegesis is from the Greek word "eis," which means "into," and exegesis is from the Greek word "ek," which means "out of." Usually most people eisegete the scripture, that is, they read into it what they have already been taught or what their preconceived idea is. So if I believe something, whether it's true or not, but if I believe something, I say, "Let me find a verse or two that back up what I believe," and sure enough I can find something. I may have to take it out of context, but I can find it. And that's eisegesis. Exegesis is when you just draw

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• out of the scripture what the scripture actually says. Now our Lord is warning against the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. So let me tell you what the leaven of the Pharisees is first. It was their teaching, it was their doctrine, and it can be broken down very easily under two simple heads. First of all, they believed—the Pharisees believed—that justification was by the works of the law, and the law was their interpretation of the law. In other words, in reality, justification, according to the Pharisees, meant that you submitted to their demands, you followed what they taught you, and you received their impositions upon you. It was just that simple. So they believed in justification by the law. Now, their interpretation of the law was very wrong. You must remember this is one reason why they hated the Lord Jesus Christ, because He violated not God's law, but He violated their interpretation of the law.

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• So let me show you. If you look in your Bibles, holding Matthew 16, but turn to John chapter 5 and look if you would please beginning there with verse 15. John chapter 5, verse 15. In this passage, let's begin reading there with verse 15. Our Lord has healed a man, has commanded him to take up his bed and walk. The Bible says the man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him. Why?

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• Because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he had not only broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Now wait a minute. Did our Lord violate the Sabbath? No. He violated their interpretation of the Sabbath. He did not violate God's law. If you'd look in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter 13, here is a very clear illustration of their hypocrisy. Luke chapter 13, beginning there with verse 10: "And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

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• And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God." Now watch: "And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, but not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?"

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• Wow. And when he had said all these things, all of his adversaries were ashamed, and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. So, these Pharisees had their interpretation. So the very first thing is they believed that justification was by the works of the law, but the works of the law was determined by them.

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• Second, they believed that everyone was under the obligation to keep the tradition of the elders. That is why when you read Mark chapter 7, Matthew chapter 15, our Lord condemns them because He said, "By your tradition you make void the Word of God." And that's exactly what they were doing. They were canceling out the law of God by their tradition.

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• Now, He not only tells you to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, He also tells you to beware of the leaven of the Sadducees. So if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 23 and look at verse 8, you'll see that the Pharisees were the legalists of that day, but the Sadducees were the leftists. They were the modernists. They were the liberals. They were the individuals who you and I would basically refer to as infidels. They denied the scripture. So in Acts chapter 23 and verse 8, look what the Bible says about the Sadducees: "For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both." So the Sadducees did not believe in a bodily resurrection. They didn't believe in angels. They didn't believe in spirit beings. Now I want you to see the absolute absurdity, in fact, when they tried to entrap Jesus. And they said, "Look, you know the law says that if a man marry a woman and they have no children, then the brother is to marry the wife and raise up seed

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• and do his brother." Well, that was the Levirate marriage, and that had to do with the land when everything was by inheritance and everything had been divided by God. And so they then said, "Here were seven brothers. One married a wife, and he had no child, and he died. Then his second brother married her, and he died; they had no children. And right on down to the seventh man. Finally the seventh man died, and they had no children. And finally the woman died." Then they asked Him, "Whose wife is she going to be in the resurrection? Because seven entered a wife." And our Lord said, "Ye do err, not knowing the scripture, nor the power of God." But the point I'm trying to make: they didn't even believe in the resurrection. And why? They were just trying to show the absurdity, according to their interpretation and their denial of scripture, of the bodily resurrection. So we have to beware of individuals that either deny the scripture or try to explain away the scripture.

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• I remember when the Lord first saved me and called me to preach, I really, really wanted to learn. And you know, when you're first saved, you think all Christians are just absolutely wonderful. I mean, you think anybody who professes to be a Christian is a Christian. I did. So I bought a book. It was written by a woman on the Exodus, because I wanted to understand the Exodus. And I read that book until I got to the one part of it, and that was when Moses was delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt. And she said that Moses knew when the tide was going to be out, and therefore he took them across. And Pharaoh did not know when the tide was going to be out, and he tried to cross and was drowned.

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• Well, the scripture says they crossed on dry ground, not when the tide was out. And you know, I thought to myself, if Moses was an intruder in that land, and the Egyptians had lived there all their lives for hundreds and thousands of years, surely they would have known the tides, you know. But, you know, here she was trying to explain away Scripture. I just threw the book away. I burned it, I think, if I remember. Now, here's the verse I want you to look at in the book of Jude, right before the book of Revelation. You have Jude verse 3. Here's why I'm telling you this. In verse 3, the Word of God says this: "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation,

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• it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Now the word "once" is the Greek word "hapax." And it literally means once, one time, and once and for all. In other words, there was a historical, biblical truth that was once delivered to the saints. And the word "delivered" is an aorist passive, which means it happened one time, and you were passive in it.

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• You didn't do anything except receive it. It was accomplished once. It was over and done with. And it was delivered in us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. So, our Lord is warning not only against the hypocrisy and the wickedness of the Pharisees, but also the hypocrisy and the denial of Scripture by the Sadducees.

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• Now, if you look in one more passage in Mark chapter 8 and verse 15, you'll see our Lord also includes a third group. Notice, if you would please, in the book of Mark chapter 8 and verse 15, He now warns against the Herodians. "And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod." Now Herod was an Edomite, that is, he was of the lineage of Esau. Of course, Jacob and Esau were sons of Isaac, who was a son of Abraham.

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• I want to give you a quote by John Calvin on Herod. And if you don't understand the first sentence, that Herod was a half Jew—what he meant by that was, well, you'll have to understand there's no such thing as a half Jew, but here's what he said. Listen carefully. He said, "I reply, he (that is Herod) was a half Jew, was mean and treacherous, and availed himself of every contrivance that was within his reach to draw the people to his side.

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• For it is customary with all apostates to contrive some mixture for the purpose of establishing a new religion by which the former may be abolished. It was because he was laboring craftily to subvert the principles of true and ancient piety, and thus to give currency to a religion that would be exceedingly adapted to his tyranny, or rather because he was endeavoring to introduce some new form of Judaism, that our Lord most properly charged them to beware of his leaven."

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• "From the temple of God the scribes disseminated errors, and the court of Herod was another workshop of Satan in which errors of a different kind were manufactured." So he called him a half Jew in the sense that he was trying to combine Judaism and whatever he wanted to increase his tyranny and to control the people.

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• Now, let me just try to give you a few other terms that will help you understand Herodianism. You can understand Pharisaism. You can understand Sadduceeism. But here is Herodianism. Herodianism. Hear the words: political correctness. Worship of the state. The state is God. And that's what Herod was trying to do. That is exactly what all tyrants try to do. That is what Jeroboam did. You remember in 1 Kings chapter 12, when he made the two golden calves and said, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel,

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• which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." And that's why in Psalm 94 and verse 20 and 21, God says that governments who make sin legal not only do not have fellowship with Him, they're actually in competition with Him. That's why He asked in Psalm 94 and verse 20, "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by law?" Now when you stop and think about this: "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with God, which makes sin legal?" Oh, it's legal in this country to sin as long as it is politically correct. You look around and see who is favored in this country and who is disfavored. Now I want to read to you verse 21.

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• "They" (that is the government, these rulers) "gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood." So look, if you would, who are the favorite few in this country today? It happens to be the sodomites, it happens to be the transgender crowd, it happens to be the politically correct crowd, it happens to be anyone and everyone except Christians, conservatives, constitutionalists. I'm just simply pointing out the fact this is exactly what Herodianism is. So these doctrines then of Phariseeism and Sadduceeism and Herodianism are all compared to leaven in the fact that the leaven is sour.

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• And of course, as the Apostle Paul said, the words of the heretics do eat as a canker. The words they are destructive, and of course the leaven diffuses into everything and therefore it corrupts everything as well. So each of these groups held doctrines that were completely and totally contrary to the Word of God, to the law and the gospel. They vilified and changed the Word of God for their own benefit. I suppose the worst kind of tyranny is a religious tyranny, and the next unto it, of course, would be a political tyranny as well. So our Lord tells us that the philosophies and the teachings and the doctrines of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians were nothing but hypocrisy. If you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter 12 and verse 1, which we'll be there next anyhow, Luke 12 verse 1, our Lord summarizes everything that I've just said with this verse. Watch it: Luke 12 verse 1, "In the meantime, when there were gathered unto him an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trod one upon another, he began to say to his disciples first of all, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." All they wanted to do

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• was to control the people. They had no concern for the people. Same thing with the Sadducees. Same thing with the Herodians. So He tells us to beware, then, of hypocrisy and false doctrine. Secondly, in this passage, He also tells us to beware of covetousness. Look, if you would, in Luke 12, beginning there in verse 13: "And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." Wow. And he said unto him, "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?" And he said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." And then of course he tells the parable about the rich man, but he said, "Beware of covetousness." Oh Lord, you better pay attention that you not be a covetous individual, for he says a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

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• Do you realize that the average Christian usually thinks that material gain is the goal of life, and consequently most Christians live their lives just endeavoring to have gain? I remember back when God first saved me and called me to preach, I had a friend, and his driving desire, his driving desire was to be a millionaire. That was a lot of money back 60, 70 years ago. But his driving star was to be a millionaire. And I asked him, "Why do you want to be a millionaire?" He said, "Just so I can serve God without any encumbrance."

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• I said, "Can you not do that now? Why do you have to be a millionaire to do something like that?" Well, our Lord said you better be concerned that you don't be covetous. I've seen bumper stickers that said this: "He who dies with the most wins." Well, that's not true. Who dies with the most leaves every bit of it. You don't win anything, not at all. Such is an attitude

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• to covetousness. And you may have to remember that in Colossians 3 and verse 5, covetousness is idolatry. The problem is we fail to believe the words of our Lord that He gave us in Matthew 6 and verse 33, when He said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." If you will go back when you get home and read Matthew chapter 6, you will find that "all these things" that will be added to you: food, raiment, sufficiency. In other words, He said, if you seek Me and My kingdom and My righteousness first, I'm going to certainly take care of you. Everything is going to be added unto you.

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• Now, one of the things that we are missing in our lives as Christians is contentment. We have lost the art and the grace of contentment. The Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 4 verse 11 said, "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." So he said, "I can be contented in being hungry. I can be contented in being full. I can be contented in being sick. I can be contented in being well. Whatever state I'm in, I've learned to be content." Now, let me show you. If you will turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Timothy chapter 6, our Lord speaks of contentment as well. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, and let's begin reading there with verse 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 6: He says, "But godliness with contentment is great gain." Godliness with contentment. Then he says, "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." Now look at this: "And having food and raiment,

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• let us be therewith content." You've got plenty to eat. You've got plenty to wear, and you have life, and you have health, and you have happiness. Be content. Now watch what he said in verse 9: "But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money" (not money, but the love of money) "is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Now look at verse 11: "But thou, O man of God, flee these things." What things? The things he just mentioned: covetousness, love of money. Flee those things. I've had friends all through the years try to get me in on some kind of financial scheme, tell me how quickly I could be rich. And I would tell them I was not interested in being rich. And I'm not. I really am not.

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• Certainly, I want to be taken care of like anyone. I want enough to eat. I want enough clothes to wear. I want to be able to pay any bills I might incur. But outside of that, I've often thought, what in the world would I do with millions of dollars anyhow? Give it away. But do you understand something? If you don't want much, you don't need much. That's the truth. If you can be satisfied, if you can be content with what you have, that's wonderful. That's fine. Now here's another verse: Hebrews 13 and verse 5. God says, "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

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• Years ago, Alice came to me and she said, "I just have to have some new clothes. I have to have a new dress." I said, "What?" She said, "I just got to have some." I said, "Well, since we're Christians, I said, we need to see what the Bible says." And I turned to Hebrews 13 and verse 5: "Be content with such things as ye have." Well, it didn't work. She had to get a new dress anyhow.

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• But, you know the truth. I know we need clothes, but you understand what I'm saying. You don't have to have... I tell everybody teasingly, Alice has two closets full of nothing to wear. Oh boy. But anyhow, this is what he's saying: "Be content with such things as you have." I want to show you something. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 30. Proverbs chapter 30. Here's a passage that you and I really need to apply to our lives. Proverbs chapter 30.

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• Look, if you would please, beginning there in verse 8. Proverbs 30 and verse 8. The wise man said, "Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain." So what did he say?

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• "I don't want to be rich. I don't want to be poor. I want that which is convenient for me, and I'll be satisfied there. I'll be taken care of." Now, I want you to listen to me. If you're a covetous individual, you will never be satisfied. Because the more you get, the more you want. It's just that simple. If you're not a covetous individual, then you can be thankful, grateful, and appreciative of everything that you have. And whatever is given to you, or whatever you receive, or whatever you earn, or whatever you grow, or whatever you build, you can be thankful. Why?

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• Because you realize and you understand God doesn't owe you anything, except justice. And you don't want that. But you can be thankful. But a covetous man cannot be thankful, because he's never grateful for what he has; he always wants more. Okay, so our Lord says you better beware of hypocrisy and false teaching. You better beware of covetousness. One more: you better beware of pride and the praise of man. I want you to turn to Mark chapter 12 and Luke chapter 20. Look at this. Mark chapter 12 and Luke chapter 20, because again our Lord is warning us and He's using the "beware" word. Mark chapter 12. Look if you would please at verse 38. Mark 12 verse 38: "And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing,

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• and love salutations in the marketplaces, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation." But I want you to note something now. They were hypocrites, but note if you would: they like to wear the long clothing. They like to call attention to themselves. They love to be addressed as "Rabbi, Rabbi." They love the chief seats in the synagogues and the uppermost rooms at feasts. Now if you look in Luke chapter 20 and verse 46, He will say this again. Luke 20, watch at verse 46: He says, "Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation."

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• Do you realize that pride always seeks to draw attention to oneself? And sometimes it's clothing. Sometimes it's a lack of clothing. Sometimes it may be tattoos. I've seen people who had tattoos all over their head, their ears, their nose, their mouth, their eyelids. Why? Well, they want people to notice them. And certainly you get noticed, that is for sure. But pride always seeks the approval of man and the praise and the recognition of man. Pride loves recognition. Pride happens to be—listen to me, I'll show it to you from scripture—pride happens to be the source of abuse, the condemnation of God and His truth. It's the source of arrogance, shame, contention, foolishness, and destruction. Want to give you a verse, and then we're going to look at some. For instance, the Bible says in Proverbs 8 and verse 13, listen carefully: "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate," saith the Lord. So the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, and arrogancy. Now I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm, then we're going to the book of Proverbs very quickly.

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• Look in Psalm 10, just showing you about pride and how pride basically hates God and His Word. So in Psalm 10 and verse 2, the Bible says, "The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor." By the way, look at that. Persecution comes from pride. "I can do it. I can get away with it. Look who I am." Just heard this weekend of one man who shot and killed, murdered another man. And when he was asked why he did it, his answer was, "He disrespected me." Really?

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• Well, who do you think you are? I mean, that was pride. "I'm to be respected. If you don't respect me, I'll kill you." That's what the scripture says: "The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined." Watch: "For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth." Now watch it: "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after

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• God: God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them." Wow, that's pride. Look in your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Proverbs 11. Remember now, the Lord hates pride, the scripture says so. So look in Proverbs chapter 11 and notice if you would please verse 2. Here's a number of things about pride very quickly. Proverbs 11, look at verse 2: "When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom." When pride cometh, then cometh shame. Look in Proverbs 13 and verse 10, and I'm just being very selective. There are lots of verses. Proverbs 13 and verse 10: "Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom." So it doesn't matter if your husband, wife, best friends—pride always comes first. Look if you would Proverbs 14 and verse 3. He says it like this: "In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them." And then Proverbs 16 and verse 18, one that everyone probably can quote: "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." Then one more:

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• look in Proverbs 29 and verse 23. Proverbs 29 verse 23: We should certainly understand this one. "A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit." Do you know something? I just was selective at a number of these passages on pride. There are a multitude of others. There are good illustrations in the Bible. Goliath is a good one. He was very proud, arrogant, thought he could not be defeated. And a little boy defeated him. I'm just simply saying, in spite of all the warnings of Scripture, man's heart is deceitful and full of pride and arrogancy, and we desire the praise and recognition of men. We want it. We'll do anything in

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• the world to get it. And we'll dress immodestly, or we'll overdress, or we'll tattoo ourselves up, or we'll put beer cans for earrings, or we'll do something just to get attention. Now if these verses that I've showed you are insufficient, I want to show you one that might startle you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of John chapter 5 and look at this. If there was no other reason in the world to hate pride and the desire for praise and honor and recognition from men, I think for the child of God this one would be sufficient. Look what our Lord said in John 5 and verse 44. He's talking to these people and he says this. Look at it: "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?" How can you believe? Pride and desiring the honor and praise of man makes faith impossible. It's impossible to believe if all you want is praise and recognition of man. That's what He's saying. Wow. So let me make some applications. The first one: this our Lord has warned us. So the questions are, number one: Will we take heed and will we be cautious in our lives to guard

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• ourselves from hypocrisy, false teaching, covetousness, pride, and desiring human recognition? Each of these will destroy our testimonies, ruin our lives, and bring chaos and confusion in our families. Will we beware? And let me just say this again: truth unapplied is worthless. You might know the truth, but if you do not apply it, it is worthless. It is useless to you. It still may be truth, but it has to be applied. Now the interesting thing is, in several passages our Lord said, "Take heed and beware." I want to end today by showing you three "take heed" verses. And the interesting thing is this: the three Greek words that I gave you at the very beginning of this message that are translated as "beware" are also at times translated "take heed." So when our Lord said "take heed and beware," it is a double warning at one time. So I want you to turn very quickly in your Bibles to the book of Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. Here is a "take heed" or a "beware of." I want you to see it.

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• Look what he said: Galatians chapter 5 and notice if you would please verse 15. "But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed" (that is, beware) "that ye be not consumed one of another." In other words, if you're gonna fuss and fight, don't be surprised if you don't get eaten up. Better take heed, better beware. Then if you would turn right on over to 1 Timothy chapter 4. Look at verse 16 at what the Apostle Paul told Timothy: "Take heed unto thyself" (or beware unto thyself) "and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." So it says take heed or beware not only of your own person, but your doctrine, which we've already dealt with. Then if you'll look in Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 12. Hebrews 3 verse 12. Look at this. Our Lord says, "Take heed, brethren." I want to show you "take heed," but then He said "brethren."

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• He's not talking to the ungodly. He's not talking to the unsaved. He's talking to the saved. He says, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." In other words, keep your heart. That is, you better watch out. You better beware of hypocrisy. You better beware of false teaching. You better beware of covetousness. You better beware of pride. You better beware of desiring the praise and recognition of men. Because ultimately, if you're not, there's gonna be an evil heart of unbelief, and you'll end up departing in one way or the other and doing that which is condemned by God. So, how often do we really observe the "beware" signs? How often do we really and truly beware of what our Lord tells us to beware of?

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• You remember that passage in the book of Proverbs, it occurs twice: "The prudent man foreseeth the evil, but the simple pass on and are punished." We can either listen to our Lord and beware, or we can pass on and get punished. Let's beware. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I pray that you would help us. We are living in extremely dangerous times and wicked times, compromising times, enticing times, seducing times. And Lord, we need thee and we need to heed thy warnings.

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• We need to watch out for hypocrisy in our own lives, for false teaching in our own lives. We need to watch out for a covetous heart and a covetous attitude. We need to be on our guard. Then we watch out for pride, and that we do not desire the praise of men, but we desire only the praise of God by bringing our lives into obedience unto thee. Help us, Lord, to love thee, to fear thee, and to honor thee. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T23:29:24Z